Claudine Gay is the Wilbur A. Cowett Professor of Government and Professor of African and African-American Studies. She served as the 30th president of Harvard University, the Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and the dean of social science in the FAS.
Gay is a scholar of political behavior, considering issues of race and politics in America. She has explored such topics as how the election of minority officeholders affects citizens’ perceptions of their government and their interest in politics and public affairs; how neighborhood environments shape racial and political attitudes among Black Americans; the roots of competition and cooperation between minority groups, with a particular focus on relations between Black Americans and Latinos; and the consequences of housing mobility programs for political participation among poor people. In her teaching, Gay has focused on such topics as racial and ethnic politics in the U.S., Black politics in the post-Civil Rights era, American political behavior, and democratic citizenship.
She is founding chair of the Inequality in America Initiative, a multidisciplinary effort launched in 2017. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Gay has pursued her scholarship as a fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard.
Contact
claudine_gay@harvard.edu
1737 Cambridge Street,
CGIS Knafel Building
Subfields
American Politics
Academic Interests
Democracy | Public Opinion | Race & Ethnicity | Voter Behavior
Research Methods
Quantitative Methods | Surveys
Geographic Regions of Study
United States